Drug Enforcement Administration

Thirteenth Defendant Pleads Guilty In Idaho Meth Case

BOISE, IDAHO - Nabor Martinez-Herrera, 31, a Mexican national, is the 13th of 14 co-defendants to plead guilty to a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Idaho. Sentencing is scheduled for May 4, 2011, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Boise. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years to life in prison, a fine of up to $4 million, and a minimum five years of supervision following his release from prison.

According to the plea agreement, on July 17, 2009, Martinez-Herrera and co-defendant Fortino Bastidas loaded approximately four pounds of 99 percent pure methamphetamine into the battery compartment of a Ford Ranger truck. Martinez-Herrera had made arrangements with codefendants Jose Gallardo-Dedios and Guadalupe Valenzuela to transport the methamphetamine from California to Idaho. Martinez-Herrera and Fortino-Bastidas were arrested in Idaho before they could deliver the methamphetamine.

Co-defendants Haylee Lindauer, Kalli Lindauer and Juan Antonio Arvizu-Betancourt will be sentenced on April 18; Shawn Peterson and Guadalupe Valenzuela on April19; Angel Joel Dedios and Heidi Tucker on April 20; Jason Marr on April 21; Jose Gallardo-Dedios on April 22; Quentin Mick on May 2; and Fortino Bastidas and Jorge Valdez on May 3. The final defendant, Francisco Quinones, is scheduled to enter a change of plea on February 14, 2011.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Boise Police Department’s Bandit Drug Unit, as part of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task (OCDETF) led the investigation. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force which supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The Nampa Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Ada County Sheriff’s Office, Canyon County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho State Police, and Meridian Police Department assisted in the investigation.